Posted by Axel (12.80.33.190) on October 25, 2001 at 04:07:14:
Survey Shows Support For Belmont School
Thursday October 25, 2001 01:05 AM EDT - A group that wants to see the pollution-plagued Belmont Learning Center finished and opened as a high school released poll results Wednesday that it said show substantial student and parent support for such work.
About four out of five of the 333 parents surveyed indicated they would send their children to a new Belmont, according to the county Alliance for Student Achievement. Roughly 94 percent of the 96 students polled at the current Belmont High School favored completing the project.
"The community has issued a challenge," school board member Jose Huizar, who represents the Belmont area, told news wires. "I believe it is the role of the LAUSD school board to ensure that the school be built to serve the community, and I hope to see a solid proposal today that will allow us to fulfill this commitment to the community."
During the course of construction of new Belmont it was determined that the 35-acre, former oil field it still sits on contains potentially explosive methane gas and deadly hydrogen sulfide. The Board of Education halted work at the site in January 2000, despite spending a reported $170 million up to that point.
The district has been collecting bids from developers offering to clean up the complex and make it safe. According to news wires, bidders also may propose to ready the site for sale or buy it outright, but must indemnify the school district from any environmental health lawsuits that might arise.
Old Belmont, built in 1923, had an enrollment last year of 4,874, making it one of the biggest schools in Los Angeles Unified. The new Belmont school was built to house up to 5,000 students.
KCBS Channel2000.com